Born On The Fourth Of July

Starring: Tom Cruise, Willem Dafoe Original UK Premiere: 1989 Dvd Release: 4th July, 2005 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Collector's Edition, PAL, Region 2 Encoding

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Born on the Fourth of July is a 1989 autobiographical film which tells the story of Ron Kovic, a paralyzed Vietnam War veteran who became an anti-war activist. It stars Tom Cruise, Bryan Larkin, Raymond J Barry, Tom Berenger, Caroline Kava. The movie was adapted by Oliver Stone & Ron Kovic from Kovics autobiography. It was directed by Stone & filmed in Dallas, Texas. It won Academy Awards for Best Director & Best Film Editing. It was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Cinematography, Best Music, Original Score, Best Picture, Best Sound & Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. Rated R for strong violence, sex-related situations & strong uses of the four-letter words.

This film based on the true life experiences of Ron Kovic who started out as a dedicated patriot joining the US Marines to fight in Viet Nam. His experiences in Nam make him embittered with the futility of the conflict & the sufferings of the Vietnamese.

The first part of the film showing Kovic growing up & joining the marines is more targeted at American audiences, but once he is wounded, paralysed & a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair the appeal is universal. His gradual conversion to the aims of the “Stop the war movement” & peace activist are superbly acted by Cruise.

This is a tough, harrowing film to view, it depicts the desperate trauma I have read about suffered by Nam vets, I once saw a veteran comment “Nam made me so wild I am not safe to live amongst ordinary people”. We encounter the equivalent of that in this film, it is devastatingly honest & depicts not only the horrors of the conflict, the field hospitals, & the destruction of the souls of the men who survived.

Compelling viewing, but only if you are prepared to face the truth about war, but at the end there is some kind of hope.

Tom Cruise is an American film actor & producer who has starred in a number of top-grossing movies. His first leading role in a blockbuster movie was in 1983 s Risky Business. // Cruises parents moved frequently when he was a child, residing in a number of locations throughout the United States & Canada, including Ottawa, Louisville, Kentucky, Glen Ridge, New Jersey, where he attended Glen Ridge High School & Wayne, New Jersey. Before going into acting, Cruise attended a Franciscan seminary & aspired to become a Catholic priest. He received Academy Award nominations for Born on the Fourth of July & Jerry Maguire, both as Best Actor ; & for Magnolia, as Best Supporting Actor. In 1996, he became the first actor in history to star in five consecutive films that grossed $100 million in domestic release. Impossible & Jerry Maguire. Impossible & its sequels, Vanilla Sky & The Last Samurai. The company also co-produced The Others. In 1990, 1991 & 1997, People magazine rated him among the 50 most beautiful people in the world. Posters Of Tom Cruise

Editors Choice: The Last Samurai, Vanilla Sky, Jerry Maguire, Minority Report, Collateral, Eyes Wide Shut, The Bone Collector, A Few Good Men, View DVDology

Willem Dafoe is a versatile American actor. He is a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group. Born William Dafoe Jr. in Appleton, Wisconsin, the seventh of eight children, he acquired the nickname Willem in childhood. He studied drama at the University of Wisconsin, but left before graduation in order to join the newly formed avant-garde group Theatre X After touring with Theatre X for four years in the United States & Europe, he moved to New York City & joined the Performance Group, where he met director Elizabeth Lecompte. Lecompte & Dafoe left the Performance Group together & became both collaborators & life partners; they are not married, but have a son. Dafoes film career began in 1981, when he was cast in Heavens Gate, but his role was removed from the film during editing. A year later he starred as the leader of a motorcycle gang in The Loveless, but his first breakthrough film role was as Sergeant Elias in Platoon. Posters Of Auto Focus

Editors Choice: Spider Man, Animal Factory, Auto Focus, Pavilion Of Women, Shadow Of The Vampire, The Ultimate Villain Showdown, The Boondock Saints, Clear And Present Danger, View DVDology

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